The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
by ellyswampchild
Summary: Clarke planned to leave after returning from Mount Weather, but Bellamy wouldn't allow that. As she spends a night trapped in a cave with him, Clarke begins to wonder if Bellamy came to keep her from being alone, or because he couldn't be alone.
1. Chapter 1

**Alternate ending to the season 2 finale. Although I was going to make this a one-shot, I have to go to work, and wanted to post before I left. Want more? Favorite/Review. Want to discuss The 100, or any other Fandoms? Add me on Twitter /ellyswampchild.**

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They had been walking for hours. Clarke, who had become accustomed to mile long treks through treacherous and unfamiliar territory over the past several months, was beginning to tire. The sun was setting over the western trees, and the breeze had turned cold causing goosebumps to appear on her skin despite the jacket she wore.

Earlier today the Mount Weather survivors and rescue mission had returned to Camp Jaha. As she watched the kids she had been sent to earth with reunite with family and friends, Clarke knew she wouldn't be able to face them on a daily basis, "I bear it so they don't have to," she whispered under her breath. The phrase which had first been spoken by President Wallace moments before Clarke sent a bullet into his chest, now held a new meaning. If she stayed at camp, she would serve as a constant reminder of pain. Without her, her friends would be able to focus on healing.

Clarke had planned to slip away quietly, while the former residents of the Ark were distracted by the bittersweet homecoming. Bellamy had ruined that plan. Their relationship had changed drastically from their initial days on earth. The two closest people the 100 convicted teenagers had to leaders went from loathing each other, to becoming fiercely protective of the other. Sometimes Clarke believed Bellamy cared for her as much as he did his sister, which was more than his own life.

When Bellamy had approached her at the outskirts of camp, Clarke had resolved to keep her original plan of leaving. He had invited her to have a drink, as if he knew nothing of her departure, but she knew better. To an acquaintance Bellamy usually appeared stoic, only showing emotion in the most extreme circumstances. Clarke knew that although he wasn't overtly emotional, he was sensitive and easily affected by losses. As she spoke to him, she noted the way his eyes flitted from side to side, his breath became slightly more ragged, and he swallowed repeatedly. He wasn't okay, despite his best efforts to remain indifferent. Clarke's resolve had faltered, and she had agreed to walk with him as he hunted to clear his mind.

That had been roughly three hours ago. Bellamy hadn't attempted to hunt; he had walked past numerous tracks, and when Clarke pointed it out, he had responded that they were old and the animal would be long gone. This was believable the first several times, but Clarke was beginning to suspect he hadn't intended to hunt at all. When frigid droplets of water began falling from the sky, Clarke decided to confront the boy in front of her.

"Bellamy, I think it's time you headed back."

He showed no indication that he had heard her, and Clarke hurried to catch up, placing a hand on his arm, "hey, are you listening? It's starting to rain; you should head back to camp before it gets worse."

Bellamy stopped walking, but didn't turn to face her. Instead, he stood staring at the darkened forest before them. Clarke quickly scanned the trees, wondering if he saw something, but the woods remained quiet except for the increasing patter of water droplets as they fell through the leaves. His shoulders rose and fell quickly, and his hands which hung at his sides were clenched into fists. Clarke knew he was trying to compose himself before speaking to her, and with a mildly annoyed sigh she leaned against an adjacent tree and waited for the myriad of words she knew would come.

It was several minutes before Bellamy spoke into the darkness, and when he did his voice was eerily monotone, as if he were choosing his words carefully, "you want me to walk back now? Alone? At night? When a storm is coming?"

Clarke pushed off the tree and took several steps towards him, "you could have been back hours ago, if you hadn't walked passed all the tracks."

"I'm not going back." Bellamy's voice was barely more than a whisper, almost swept away in the breeze that rustled the leaves above their heads, but Clarke heard him clearly and froze her steps.

"What do you mean, you're not going back?"

Bellamy turned to face her, and Clarke noticed for the first time the exhaustion written on his face. His eyes, which usually held fearlessness and determination, now looked defeated.

"I'm not going back, Clarke," his gaze met hers pleadingly; he was asking for her permission to leave camp with her, "not without you."

Clarke ran her fingers through her rain dampened hair, wondering when she lost control of the situation. As much as Clarke felt that the survivors needed time away from her to heal, she also needed space herself. She hadn't had time to process the traumatic events that took place since arriving on earth. As the groups chosen leader, Clarke had focused all of her energy on taking care of everyone else, and pushed herself to the sidelines. If it had been anyone except Bellamy in front of her, she would have told them to leave, but as much as she had wanted to be alone, Bellamy's expression told her he couldn't handle be alone right now.

"Okay," the word was weak as it left Clarke's mouth, "for tonight, though. We'll find somewhere to sleep, then talk in the morning."

Bellamy nodded tiredly, and although it was evident he wasn't thrilled with having to renegotiate in the morning, Clarke was thankful he didn't argue. The rain was falling heavily now, and Clarke heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. They needed to find shelter, otherwise they'd both freeze, or be exposed to danger when the safety of darkness was lost to the illuminating lightning strikes that were quickly approaching.

"We need to find cover," Bellamy spoke her thoughts as he lightly took her hand and begun leading her through the thick cluster of tree. Bellamy was determined his steps, stopping only momentarily to study the landscape before guiding her once again. Worry had just begun to creep into Clarke's mind, when Bellamy stopped abruptly, dropped her hand, and pointed to something through the darkness, "There, a cave."

Clarke squinted and blinked rapidly straining her eyes to see through the dense blackness brought about by nightfall. Fortunately lightening momentarily showered the landscape with light, and Clarke noticed the flat terrain had transformed into a hill with a jagged oval opening cut into its side. She looked at Bellamy warily, unsure if venturing into an unfamiliar pitch-black hollow was any less dangerous than sleeping outside, but Bellamy nodded reassuringly, and taking her hand led her into the hillside.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hello humans! Thank you so much to those of you who favorited and followed my story. I hope you enjoy Chapter 2. I've decided to break this into 3 chapters, although, I'm willing to continue if wanted. Please review with any comments or suggestions .**

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Bellamy knew the cave existed, although it wasn't part of his original plan. He didn't even have an original plan, he just intended to walk with Clarke for as long as it took her to reconsider leaving. He hadn't expected that to be this difficult, and he definitely didn't expect her to ask him to leave. The words had felt like daggers stabbing his already wounded heart; in that moment he couldn't decide if he wanted to scream at her, or launch himself into her arms and finally lose the control he fought to keep inside Mount Weather. Fortunately, he was able to keep his composure.

The rain was a welcome justification for having to spend the night in the forest. Combined with the unknown dangers looming in the darkness, Clarke had easily been convinced to delay discussions of her plans to leave Camp Jaha, and her friends, behind. Bellamy wasn't thrilled it was still up for discussion, but it bought him time to come up with a new plan.

The cave was impenetrably black, and seemed to encase the cold from outside like an icebox, but was mercifully dry and uninhabited. Bellamy watched as the apprehension on Clarke's face faded into fatigue, and she lowered herself to the ground. Both of their clothes were drenched from the storm, which by the onslaught of rain echoing throughout the cavern, showed no signs of stopping. They were both shivering, and Bellamy knew they needed to build a fire quickly, or hypothermia may set in.

"We need warmth," Clarke spoke his thoughts, and he nodded in agreeance.

"There might be some dry branches outside we can use for firewood," Bellamy said as he noticed Clarke pull her knees to her chest in the slight glow of moonlight that broke through the darkness, "I'm going to go check."

"I'm coming too."

Bellamy shook his head as Clarke rose to her feet, and indicated for her to sit back down. She ignored him, and began walking towards the entrance to the cave. Her stubbornness was something Bellamy either admired or detested depending on the circumstances, and at the moment it was the latter. Her grabbed her wrist gently, preventing her from leaving the cover of shelter, "Clarke, there's no need for both of us to freeze tonight. Please, stay here."

"I'm not letting you go alone," her voice was unwavering

"You were willing to let me walk back to camp alone thirty minutes ago, I'll be fine for the five it takes me to find wood."

Bellamy immediately regretted his words as Clarke's eyes widened in indignation, but he didn't apologize, "just sit here, you can watch me from inside if you want, I won't go far."

To his relief, Clarke leaned against the limestone wall, and motioned for him to exit. Stepping into the rain reminded him of the cold showers he was forced to take back on the Ark when the hot water had been used by those better off than him. He quickly hurried into a covering of trees, and struggled to decipher the shape of logs that were nearly non-perceivable in the dim glow of night. Bellamy cursed as his foot made contact with something hard on the forest floor. He was relieved to find it was a fallen tree that miraculously had branches that were protected from the rain under the canopy of leaves above. Using several hard kicks, Bellamy easily broke through the bark, gathered the wood into his arms, and turned to return to the cave. As he did, a crack of lightening flooded the forest with light, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure lurking in the shadows.

Choking back a scream, the branches tumbled from his arms as he stumbled over something on the ground and landed heavily on his ass. Pain seared through his spine as he frantically scanned the forest which was once again void of light. Rising to his feet he pulled the dagger from his belt, and clutched it with trembling fingers as he pointed it into blackness. Behind him, a twig snapped, and he spun around slashing wildly at the air until he felt it hit something solid. The person yelped in pain, giving away their location, and Bellamy instantly had them pinned to the ground with his knife to their throat.

"Bellamy," the person whispered urgently, and his eyebrows knit together as he tried to comprehend how they knew his name, "it's okay. It's just me."

"Clarke?" his knife clattered to the forest floor, and he pushed himself off of her, scrambling backwards until his back hit a tree, "what the hell? I told you to stay in the cave."

"I heard you yell, I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I could have hurt you!" he pushed his dripping hair out of his eyes and let his head fall heavily against the tree trunk, trying to calm his breathing. Lightening lit the forest again, momentarily casting Clarke in the glow of white light. She had her hand pressed to her upper arm, and Bellamy was hit with a wave of nausea as he remembered the solid object he hit, "I did hurt you."

"I'm fine." Clarke replied quickly, but Bellamy was already on his feet haphazardly gathering the branches into his arms.

He mumbled for Clarke to follow him as they made their way back to the cave. Bellamy wanted to assess her wound, but he wouldn't be able to see anything without light. Several of the logs he collected had dampened when he dropped them, but he was able to salvage enough to start a small fire. Clarke had removed her jacket, and was left wearing a tattered gray t-shirt stained with dirt and blood from the earlier battle. She had torn off a piece from the bottom, had had it pressed against her bicep. Bellamy knelt next to her and gently took her forearm in his hand, "let me have a look."

Clarke began to protest, but the objection died on her lips, and she allowed him to inspect the inch-long gash that ran across her upper arm. Bellamy was relieved to find it was superficial, and would likely heal on its own. He wrapped the strip of fabric tightly around the incision, and sat beside her, "it doesn't look too bad. Just keep it clean."

"When did you become a doctor?" Clarke's tone was joking, but Bellamy didn't smile. He felt horrible about hurting her. The truth was, since the grounder attack that landed 47 of his friends imprisoned inside Mount Weather, he'd been struggling with severe anxiety tricked his mind into believing he was going to die, and he had fought off shadows, and fled from non-existent threats as if his life depended on it. Bellamy had suffered in silence, too proud to seek help; there had never been a need, until tonight the only person in danger from the attacks was himself.

Bellamy had been so absorbed in his thoughts, that he hadn't noticed Clarke move closer to the fire. He also hadn't noticed her remove her damp clothing; her jacket, t-shirt, and leggings were now splayed in front of the fire, and she was left wearing a black bra and tight fitting boy shorts. Bellamy's eyes widened as he skimmed the exposed skin on her back, her spine that was too prominent from lack of food, the way her torso dipped inwards before forming her hips, a scar that stopped just above the waistline of her shorts. Bellamy quickly tore his eyes away and stared intently at the ground.

"Clarke," his voice was gruff when he spoke, "why the hell are your clothes off?"

"They were wet, I didn't want to freeze. You should take yours off too."

She spoke so matter-of-factly that Bellamy was momentarily left speechless. He hadn't thought of Clarke romantically before. She was his co-leader and someone he considered a close friend, but when he thought of her, she fell into a category similar to his sister. Bellamy wasn't an asshole when it came to woman, raising Octavia had shown him the hassling they received from men on a daily basis. He would never force sex on anyone, and was careful to respect the wishes of the girls he slept with; he just made sure their wishes consisted of a one night stand, with no emotional attachments. He hadn't imagined sleeping with Clarke, because he knew she'd want more than that. That was before he saw her half naked, and now he bit his lip until the metallic taste of of blood entered his mouth, in order to clear his thoughts, "I'm good."

Clarke's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, and she gathered her jacket into a ball and rested her head on it as she lay facing the fire, "I'm exhausted. Wake me up if you need anything".

Bellamy muttered unintelligibly in response, and relocated to the entrance of the cave. He doubted he would be able to sleep after the events of tonight, and decided he would keep watch in case the figure he saw wasn't imaginary. He peeked over his shoulder at the girl curled on the floor, and noticed she had already fallen asleep by the steady rise and fall of her shoulders. Blood had begun to seep through the makeshift bandage, and Bellamy was struck by a sudden pang of guilt at the injury he caused. Before losing himself in his thoughts, as he stared into the blackness of night, he wondered if Clarke might be better off on her own.

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